Having A Ball

Since late 2000, every baby born into my husband's side or my side of the family has received a quilt from me. That's 11 babies so far, with another one on the way in February. To prevent unnecessary tears, I've made it a habit to include a small handmade gift for any older siblings. A few years ago, the gifts were soft patchwork balls made using the patterns and instructions in Jinny Beyer's "Patchwork Puzzle Balls" book.

Jinny prefers hand-piecing, but I found the balls to be great practice for trying Y-seams on my sewing machine. I was pleased to discover that it wasn't too frustrating. I left just one small seam open in each ball for stuffing and then hand-stitched that seam closed.

The balls are stuffed with leftover pieces of poufy batting that I had collected over the years from miscellaneous projects. The book says to use regular stuffing material, but the batting worked well enough for me. I just tore it up into very small irregular pieces.

I'm told that the balls were a great hit. And the parents are still trying to figure out how I sewed them together....